President Vladimir Putin has ordered all weapons and hardware left by the Ukrainian military after Crimea’s accession to Russia to be returned to Ukraine.

The Russian President, who is also the commander-in-chief of the
military forces, gave the order to Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu
at a rank-conferring ceremony in Moscow on Friday. The order
concerns weapons, and military hardware including aircraft and
ships.

Shoigu reported that Ukrainian units stationed in Crimea who had
not wished to come over to the Russian side had left Crimean
territory.

The minister added that the flags and symbols on all the ships
that remained in Crimea were changed to Russian. “We have not
allowed any acts of desecration and disrespect towards Ukrainian
state emblems,” the official added.

After the overwhelming majority of people in the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine and join the
Russian Federation earlier this month the Ukrainian servicemen
stationed on the peninsula were given the choice of swearing
allegiance to the new authorities or leave for Ukraine. The
Ukrainian military bases were taken under the control of security
forces because of fears the weapons could fall into the hands of
Ukrainian radicals.

A source in the Black Sea Fleet HQ told the RIA Novosti news
agency that Russia intended to take over about 30 combat ships
and support vessels that belonged to the Ukrainian Navy. However,
the source added that this would be done only after a thorough
inspection of the ships’ condition. On March 26 all 193 former
Ukrainian military bases and institutions in Crimea flew Russian
flags.

Also on Friday, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov
told reporters that Russia had initiated the severing of its
treaties with Ukraine on the division and status of the Black Sea
fleet.

According to the 1997 agreement Russia received a part of the
Soviet Black Sea Fleet and started renting the naval base of
Sevastopol from Ukraine. In 2010 the treaty was renewed and the
two nations agreed that the Russian Naval base in Sevastopol
would remain for an additional 25 years starting May 2017. Russia
paid $100 million a year in basic rent and also agreed natural
gas price discounts.

To annul the agreement either side must inform the other side
about this intention at least one year ahead.

However, after Crimea chose to join Russia the renting agreement
became obsolete. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier
said that the failure to end the Sevastopol rental agreement
could cost Russia up to $11 billion.